It's the political silly season as Election Day approaches. (Indeed, early voting is already underway in many places.)
*The Republicans have been all over John Kerry for a flubbed joke. And they have a point--he should have apologized at once for what he said (NOT for what he intended to say), and he should have used that as a springboard to say that while he had to apologize for a few words he spoke in error, Bush and company should apologize for incompetently prosecuting a war that has killed and maimed thousands and thousands of people --Americans, our allies and Iraqis. If Kerry had done that, the Republicans couldn't have made even a talking point out of the incident. Kerry should also have apologized for trying to crack a joke, and pledged never to do it again.
*Having said that, I don't see Kerry's gaffe as making a difference. He's not on the ballot. Bush is, in all but name, and the American people know what's going on. A new NY Times/CBS poll shows that almost 70 percent--that's 7 out of every 10 Americans--know that W has no plan to end the war. You can't get that many Americans to agree on motherhood, apple pie or baseball.
* Remember Jim Gibbons (R-NV), Congressman and stalker? His alleged assault on a woman in a parking garage (or should that be his alleged assault in a parking garage on a woman?) has tightened the race for governor of Nevada (he's the GOP candidate) to a statistical tie--Gibbons, who was pretty well ahead, now has a only a 4 point lead. The story continues to reverberate, so further damage may ensue. And Gibbons has other troubles on the ethics front.
* DSCC has a terrific ad for the vital New Jersey race.
*The DCCC chips in with this powerful spot. (Where were they in 2002 anbd 2003? But that's water under the bridge.)
* And finally, in Colorado Springs, a grandmother was escorted from an early-voting location because she sported a button saying "Grandmothers for Peace." Authorities explained that no one is allowed to wear anything political in a polling place. Sound fishy to you?
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3 comments:
The law in my jurisdiction is that electioneering is not allowed within 150 feet of a polling location and authorities have uniformly enforced the rule by insisting that even voters cover campaign buttons when in the polls. It's not that much of a stretch to say that a T-shirt with a political message is electioneering in the polling place.
The Bush-GOP attempt to capitalize on Kerry's botched joke is pathetic. After all the mangled sentences and downright dumb things the President has said over the past six years, and gotten a pass for, he is in no position to leap on Kerry's omission of a single word in his criticism of Bush. The Bush charge hearkens back to the time (that is, Vietnam) when the opposition characterized itself (or allowed itself to be characterized) as "not supporting our troops." With the end of the draft and the II-S student deferment, and the advent of an all-volunteer military, it is clear that our troops are either ambitious (to receive educational assistance that would otherwise be impossible) or eager to serve their country. It has long been evident that criticizing the commander-in-chief is not equivalent to criticizing the troops in the field, but a desperate GOP will grasp at anything that will rally its formerly-faithful.
Speaking of the formerly-faithful, are they outraged by the position in which the commander-in-chief has put the troops by "letting politics tie the hands of the military?" What else can be said of acquiescing to Prime Minister al Maliki's demand that the coalition forces remove its blockade of, and curtail its raids into, Sadr City? Surely this is a time to re-assess whether the Iraqi government and the coalition are still on the same page with respect to their goals and how to attain them.
Anonymous is right that wearing a T-shirt can be electioneering. The point I should have made more clearly is that "electioneering" usually involves a candidate or issue that is actually on the ballot. I should think that an "Obama for President 2008" T-shirt (or one like the bumper sticker I've seen near my house: "Cheney/Voldemort 2008") is not electioneering in THIS election. I wonder if the lady in question would have been escorted from the polling place had she worn a shirt saying "Support our Troops."
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